The Student Welfare Committee (SWC) has been one of the most active and consistent committees in our college. The committee has been imaginative this year and has introduced various unique and unprecedented facilities for the students. One such idea was the introduction of fresh coconut water on campus. As per the committee, the idea behind this was to get some refreshments during summer to beat the heat, and they decided that the best way to do that was to call a coconut water vendor to campus. Other than that, they also made other changes to improve the system: for example, the new counsellor was now available for a longer period of time, and at more frequent intervals. According to the committee, the system has been fairly popular and they are trying to make it absolutely anonymous and have taken steps towards the same. Other such works of the committee in this term include:

The introduction of the YCDCard by the committee and the coordination with the providers of the cards to make available deals and discounts near the college – in and around Dwarka – before the cards were issued. They also worked with the administration after the Nepal earthquake to train the students and the staff to know the basics in case of an emergency and organised a course on the same because it was thought that the people weren’t well equipped to deal with such a situation. They also collected materials for Nepal Earthquake Relief.

The committee also worked on the cab service of the college. The idea was to have transport available to students in emergency and other situations, particularly after dark. They made the driver available on call and gave his phone number to the students. These facilities have always been available to the students, but the Committee certainly helped with the implementation of the same.

The committee worked on getting groceries and fruits delivered to the campus. Lots of students complained about the variety of fruits and vegetables provided in the mess. The committee contacted the local stores and figured out who were ready to deliver to the campus so that the people could meet their nutritional requirements. They regularly updated information about the vendors as well.

One of the most important works of the committee was to help the students stay in hostels during vacations. At the end of each term, the admin tended to decree that it was mandatory for the students to leave the hostels and go home for their internships. The SWC went to the registrar with a list of the students who wanted to stay back on campus and got approval for their stay. It worked, and helped a lot of students.

The SWC was involved in the discussion on opening of the back gate and they consequently approached the Administration with their case for opening the gate and were presented with a suitable response by the administration. The Committee, however, is quick to clarify that the current situation (which is remarkably student-friendly) is largely due to the efforts of the Gender Circle. Another important act of the Committee was to conduct meetings and canvas opinion about the entry and exit rules, as well as try to make them clearer to the student body. The SWC also attempted to get rid of arbitrary rules, and will be resuming that work this semester.

On the Mentorship program, the committee said that it was difficult to encourage interaction between the mentees and the mentors. It required making the mentors more approachable and making communication better. On this front, they found great scope for improvement. This year, learning from the mistakes that were made last year, they revamped the program and came up with a completely new system called the Buddy System, in which a first year is assigned multiple ‘buddies’. They bring experience from every year and different phases of life. The juniors will also have more than one option in terms of mentors, and they can choose the buddy they are comfortable interacting with. The probability of finding someone you are comfortable with is higher in this system. They are also planning to organise events to facilitate communication between the buddy-family in order to try and cultivate such a culture.

All in all, the SWC has been one of the most active committees on campus, with the representatives being quick to look into any grievance faced by the student body.While they have faltered in certain areas – with the failed voluntary mentorship program being the best example – the Committee is trying to learn from its mistakes (as seen by the introduction of the Buddy system) in order to better provide the best possible services to the student body. A worthy endeavour indeed!

The SWC has the power to do so much, to improve student life by a large degree… and if all they manage to achieve during a year is coconut water, then… “The committee has been imaginative this year and has introduced various unique and unprecedented facilities for the students.” Come on. This year was a failure for the SWC, and that should be out in the open.